Julie, please email me your shipping info and confirm which book you’d like and I’ll get it sent out right away

renATedibleariaDOTcom

Thank you for participating, everyone!

All the best,

Ren

Kristen the Food Renegade wants to empower people to choose wholesome, healthy, traditional foods. Towards that end, she has carefully compiled a list of almost two dozen must reads for the Real Food practitioner..

and a dozen more..

Are you ready to learn about preparing lacto-fermented sauerkraut, a fresh loaf of sprouted whole grain bread or a glass of kombucha.. to rebel against the dominant food culture and become a food renegade?

If so, simply go spend some quality time looking around at http://www.foodrenegade.com (including the Must Reads section, of course) then come back here and tell me (using the comment section below) which one of these books you feel will most help you on your way towards freedom from the Standard American Diet (SAD, for short).

Include a thoughtful reason or two for your selection so that I know your interest is sincere, OK?

I’ll choose one eligible entry at random, order the winner’s book of choice from The Food Renegade’s store and ship it to any U.S. (only, sorry) address.

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35 thoughts on “Giveaway: Real Food Must Reads”

I pick Know Your Fats – I’ve wanted to read this book for a while. I’m interested in the biochemistry behind nutrition, and I know Dr. Mary Enig is a biochemist specializing in fats. I want to read the research so I have facts and studies to back me up when I get into a conversation with someone who believes fats are bad.

Oh gosh, there are so many I want to read! Lucky for me I have several of them already. The next on my list is ‘Wild Fermentation’. I’ve been coveting this book ever since I started fermenting this summer. It’s been trial and error and I’d LOVE to get my hands on the info in this book.

“Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty”
This is a topic I have been interested in for quite some time. I grew up in Maryland around farms, including a non-profit farm which donates ALL of its yields to shelters, soup-kitchens, etc in the Mid-Atlantic region. Since moving I’ve looked for similar organizations and found none, instead turning my attention to local solutions for narrowing the food gap such as the acceptance of food stamps at farmers markets, etc. I would LOVE to read this book and learn more about these issues as I determine what my local role will look like and how my area can bolster efforts at narrowing the food gap.

I would definitely choose “Nourishing Traditions”. I’ve checked it out from the library but haven’t been able to buy it. It has so many great recipes and I’d really love to have it as a resource here. We’ve made a lot of progress, and I get most of my recipes from blogs, but I’d love to have the whole resource at my fingertips! Making the switch to real foods is great, but can definitely get overwhelming.

I love every one of these books that I have read, so it’s hard to choose one! But Sandor Katz is a genius! And Barbara Kingsolver writes so beautifully, hers was a book I just couldn’t put down. And Pollan is a must-read, too, of course.

I think Nina Plank’s “Real Food” is the most practical if you really want to make change.

The one I most want to read that I have not yet is “Real Food Revival.”

I’d also like to humbly recommend my own cookbook, “Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating.” It’s a slim volume of simple animal-free recipes made from whole ingredients, plus an overview of why healthy whole-foods eating is the way to go, and a bunch of cooking techniques and kitchen-stocking guidance to help new or inexperienced cooks make themselves at home in the kitchen.

My goal is to give people the tools they need to make a tasty, wholesome meal with whatever looks good at the farmers market in 45 minutes or less, so is helpful for anyone who wants to move away from the SAD eating style.

This summer I have been interviewing food stamp recipients who try to eat local and/or organic and so many of them have mentioned the importance of Sally Fallon and other writers in your list as influencing their diet changes. I went vegan when I was 13 (I am no longer) and so during the past decade i’ve been exposed to so many different ideas about what are the most ethical/feasible/sensible way for humans to eat and keep learning there are still more. However, I am still personally struggling with what I ought to eat; cereal grains and wheat especially are comforting foods to me and compose a large part of my diet, but I have a feeling do not do well for my weight or overall health. Sometimes, I wonder if the reason that I stopped growing at age 13 was because of that vegan diet change. So, I’d love to receive a copy of Nourishing Traditions (or any of these books!) so that I can become educated on another “anti-factory farming” perspective that relates to nutritional differences between industrial and raw dairy products.

Equally important for me, however, are the sociological ideologies of power that come into play when cultures or groups try to influence or posit what others ought to eat for good health. while i am no longer vegan, i am still fascinated with how we might reconcile their views on the food system with the views and ideals of those on raw/local/primal diets, and in particular how cultural and class ideals are manifested in the movement for real, local, good food for everyone.

What a great idea for a giveaway! I would love Nourishing Traditions, I have just started to get on board with moving more towards SOLE food. I have been involved with healthy and organic eating for years now, but am trying to get back after fallingoff the wagon, due mainly to economic difficulties. I think this book would be most a kick-in-the-pants, and would help me with the recipes side of this new venture.(especially lacto-fermentation) Thanks!

Nourishing Traditions has kind of become my bible but I have to give the most credit for my transformation to my brilliant son and his amazing daughter. I have been looking for my passion and I believe I’ve found it. Thank you Ren and Aimee and Jeff too and I can’t leave out Quinn..he put his two cents in too and I learned from him. So I vote for the book y’all should be writing.
(and I know I’m not allowed to win..just wanted you to know how grateful I am.

I would have a hard time choosing one! I plan to read ‘Eat Fat Lose Fat’. Joe and I have both lost weight since we started eating real foods. Joe’s lost almost 30 pounds and 14 for me. I would love to expand on our progress so far.

‘Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning’ looks amazing. I’m hopeful that I’ll have a producing garden next year and while canning would be okay, NOT canning but using other means of preserving would be better.

‘Closing the Food Gap’ looks like a very interesting read. I love how it says in the review that “Winne offers a realistic vision for getting locally produced, healthy food onto everyones table.” I’m interested in that proposition.

Many of those are on my read-in-the-last-year list or my to-get-from-the-library list, but two that caught my eye that would be good to OWN so I can highlight, dogear pages, etc. are the Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook (as we’ve recently started buying grass fed beef) and Know Your Fats by Mary Enig. I am gearing up for a series of posts on fats (A Fat Full Fall, I’m so theme-y!), and that would be an excellent reference rather than trying to determine which web sources are legit and which are too politically “correct”.

I just want to put in my two cents and recommend Gut & Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. It is aimed at curing Autism, ADD, ADHD
Depression, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, and Schizophrenia and thus overlooked by the bulk of the population, but it is actually the most complete discussion of the importance of clean food, pro-biotic foods, healthy fats and the overall health of our guts to the function of our whole body that I have ever read. It is not only complete, but promising, understandable to the layperson and unique in presentation and profile.

There is, now, what we refer to as “The Autism Spectrum” including such things as the listed dis-eases above. However, that list is being expanded more and more every year as we start to see the overlapping of symptoms and triggers and begin moving things such as Fibromyalgia to the spectrum. In truth, it comes down to a very large example of what Hippocrates meant when he warned that “all disease begins in the gut!”

It is a wonderful book that changed our lives in ways that I couldn’t have imagined a few years ago when I couldn’t walk unassisted and our house was plagued with illness.

I just wanted to let you know that I am a nutrition nut and would probably love all of those books. If I could have any one of them, I would either pick the milk one or The Revolution will not be Microwaved. Your offer is very generous. Thanks for your offer!

I’ve read a few of them, but the Real Food book interests me the most. Over the past year I have started eating real food more than just diet food. It makes sense and tastes great. I’ve completely given up Splenda, butter spray (and others) and started eating only local meat and dairy/eggs. I hope to prove to everyone I know that you can be utlra-healthy eating the good stuff!!!!

Well, Ren……this is the pits. Because my link to Food Renegade is on the blitz. My son is trying to figure it out and so far no go. Everyone else linked with Real Food Media works just fine….she just crashes every time I open her up and I am missing reading her posts.
So I hope this qualifies……..I’ve been at her site so many many times.
I already have Nourishing Traditions and everyone of her books she’s had listed I would love to add to my library at some point. But if I had to choose……No your Fats by Mary Enig would be up next / but Eat Fat Loose Fat is a good next choice……oh dear it’s a real toss up. When it comes to fats I would love to toss the Eat Fat Loose Fat book into my younger daughters hands to read so she’ll stop grossing out over her older sisters fat eating traditional diet that has her loosing her weight. Maybe I’ll buy it for her for a gift…….anyhow’s put me for No your Fats.

Oh! Actually I do! In that case, the book that caught my eye is “Pasture Perfect”. I’m new to eating completely real food but am really embrassing the whole lifestyle. We live on a farm and are making plans to raise all our own meat and dairy (already have our own eggs) and hopefully down the road, be able to sell some as well.

I would choose “Nourishing Traditions”. As someone who has radically changed their diet since becoming pregnant (over 2 years ago) I am still definitely learning, and still working on many more changes. I think “Nourishing Traditions” appeals to me because among other things it discusses ‘the way we used to eat’. I think it will be great for all of us if we knew more about how our grandparents, or older generations prepared food. I know it would be a life changing book for me and my family as we struggle to do what it most healthy in a very unhealthy country.

Wow! This is a very special and generous offer.
I am new to NT, TF and Real Food. I thought we ate pretty well, until my son developed new food allergies. I couldn’t understand why he was developing allergies. As I researched possible causes, I came across an essay on GAPS by Campbell-McBride. I realized that his gut was damaged from early antibiotics and that the food I was feeding him was never going to allow him to heal. We are on a much better path now for *all* of us. However, it has been challenging to overcome different mind sets, such as why low fat is really bad when all I’ve ever heard in my life is to avoid as much fat as possible.

To continue our family’s journey to better health through better food, I think that I could benefit most from “The Real Food Revival.” I’d love to better understand food jargon and be able to double check that we are eating as well as we can – sustainably and locally.

Gardening When It Counts…
My husband and I are moving from our apartment into a row house with a small back yard. It has always been my dream to have an organic vegetable garden. I would love to teach my 7 year old how to grow her own food, the importance of which I am only beginning to understand. Thanks for your generosity!

Oh wow, you are so generous. I would really like to read Mary Enig’s “KNow your Fats”. I would really like to know more about the role fats play in our bodies.There are a number of books on that list that I would like to read.

I have to pick just one?! I just can’t, so I’ll say either Real Foods or Traditional Foods! My journey to whole foods have been a slow process, but I’ve reaped great rewards along the way! I think either one of these books would only serve to guide me even more.
~Amy

I was attracted to the Grow your own garden book. It is a subject that has been on my heart for awhile now. I want my kids to grow up with the good experiences of working the land for their foods. This is a great giveaway, thank you!

This is a hard decision but I would choose “Know Your Fats” by Mary Enig. I have been trying to feed my family more nutritious food for some time now. Your blog and several others have helped me in this a lot. Recently I ordered “Nourishing Traditions” and I look forward to adopting more practices from that book. In the past couple years I have learned about the benefits of cooking with coconut oil and I love cold pressed olive oil for salads but beyond that I know very little about fats. I think I would benefit greatly from this book. Thanks so much!

It is hard to pick just on the books on her list, but since I have a couple of them already I pick “Everything I want to do is Illegal…” by Joel Salatin. I enjoy listening to him and he is an eloquant writer. I know I would not only learn form his book, but also enjoy reading it for his writing style. This is a grat giveaway and I hope my name is picked.
Thanks!

I would love to read Gardening When it Counts and re-visit the Four Season Harvest. I know that my next step in our food journey is for my family to become more efficient and productive gardeners. I would like to learn techniques that will help us to garden in the midst of a pretty busy urban family life.

I would appreciate owning a copy of Nourishing Traditions. Our public library has only one copy that is always checked out. Even though I realize that’s a very good thing, it makes it hard to depend on it as a reference. It would also be nice to be able to loan it to my parents, both of whom are suffering effects of a SAD diet. I love them both and want them to be able to enjoy a healthy life again.